CHAPTER I.
ON THE TRAIN "We're making time now, Tom." "Making time ?" repeated Tom Rover as he gazed out of the car window at the telegraph poles flashing past.

"I should say we were, Sam! Why, we must be running sixty miles an hour!" "If we are not we are making pretty close to it," came from a third boy of the party in the parlor car.

"I think the engineer is trying to make up some of the time we lost at the last stop." "That must be it, Dick," said Sam Rover.

"Gracious, how we are rocking!" he added as the train rushed around a sharp curve and nearly threw him from his chair.
"I hope we get to Ashton on time," remarked Tom Rover.

"I want to take a look around the grounds before it gets dark." "That's Tom, wanting to see it all before he sleeps!" cried Sam Rover with a grin.